Mawkish, Cloying, Treacly

There is a tendency sometimes to make things overly sentimental, schmaltzy, saccharine. Overly sentimental, desperately trying to attach some deep meaning or historic life-lesson connection to everyday pursuits or hobbies.

I got watching this Silk on the Web video. I'm listening to it right now, albeit in another tab, while I'm blogging this. He inherits a small glassine envelope and a pair of stamp tongs from his grandfather. Of course that got me thinking back to any gooey, overly-sweet, nostalgic moments or memories I similarly had from my early years of stamp collecting.

As the title of this blog says, my brother, sister and I would "work stamps" with my Dad. It was his term, of unknown origin, which in no way implied it was work. Not labour, maybe a labour of love. A way to connect with his kids. "You can't go wrong with British Colonials, you know." Something to do on a snowy afternoon before Al Gore invented the internet. (He did, you know.)

His approach must have been semi-serious, but I did not feel that working stamps was overly stressful or scholarly, much less work. I still enjoy seeing each stamp I encounter, even if I don't keep it or need it. I really enjoy sorting through them. Who knows what will turn up next? And, among my (so-far) five Traveler albums, not my original one because I opened the binding and added binder rings to expand it. 

I have 'inherited' three stamp collections. One from my Dad, one from my maternal grandfather including my Mom's, and one from an overseas penpal. I always thought my Dad's was THE stamp collection. The one by which all other collections were measured. It was not. I've realized that I have collected many more, nicer stamps than he had, although he certainly bested mine when it came to age, including one set his father bought to commemorate my Dad's year of birth. My penpal's collection was interesting, based on only a couple of countries. My grandfather's was full of old, small definitives from many years ago. Some unhelpful person had valuated then removed some of the higher catalogue-value ones. My Mom's little cardboard-cover album contained what she once told me were my grandfather's doubles - the ones he didn't want. She stuck them in her album with some sense of duty, it seemed. Something they worked on together as the attenuating ash dangled dangerously from the end of his lit cigarette.

Silk on the Web promotes not the monetary value of our collections in the above linked video, but rather the enjoyment, the pride, the relaxation, the educational, intangible benefits of stamp collecting.

In an upcoming post, I'll include some non-sentimental photos of these collections I've 'inherited'. Like any stamp collections, they are kept or disposed of based on the emotional connection to the person who curated them. And it doesn't have to be for any of those mushy, melodramatic, dreamy reasons.

Stamps as Interior Decor

I had accumulated a sizeable ziploc bag of damaged stamps: rips, missing perforations, corners, thins, heavy cancels etc. Some that are horribly damaged I safely dispose of by folding them in half and dropping them into the recycle box. (That's to ensure I don't look in the box and think the stamp just fell in there!) 

Saving them for something, I found that something this week. We had bought and successfully assembled (that means the unit was assembled and upright without both of us arguing and having to go to counselling) an IKEA unit for our family room. I was generously allotted three shelves. Matching IKEA Drona black fabric storage boxes fit on each shelf for stamp stuff, train stuff, archives stuff. In front of each storage box is my creative craft project using the damaged stamps:

Dollar Tree had some very basic black 8x10 photo frames with patterned edges. I tape-runnered the damaged siimilarly-coloured stamps to patterned cardstock and placed them in the frames:

Not only is my semi-organized stuff now virtually invisible inside the fabric storage boxes, but the storage boxes tend to disappear visually behind each frame of damaged stamps! And the stamps don't even look all that damaged!

100 Bucks o' Fun at the Kingston Fall Stamp Festival

Last weekend, the Kingston Stamp Club held its Fall Stamp Festival at Crossroads United Church. My first stop, as always, was the club consignment table. Their system is effective and after perusing tables full o' goodies, I was checked out with my consignment items in my reusable shopping bag and perusing the bourse (displays). I stopped at an Oakville dealer's table for some needed mounts and hinges:

Roy Lingen of Verona had a full-price box of baggie mixes as well as a half-price box. Here are my finds from the full-size:

And from the half-price box - half a hundred dollars. Yes, that's 1,000 copies of a New Zealand bird stamp.

Roy directed me to Janet MacDonald, a fellow customer and someone who has followed my blog on Kingston history. Turns out Janet and I like Roy's sale items, Janet writes a column for the Kingston Stamp Club newsletter, and we share eclectic interests. I found Janet and her husband Hugh perusing a nearby dealer's items and we had a brief chat. Janet said she made a pledge to herself not to buy any on-paper material. I said I did that, too, before breaking my own pledge. Soak on!

The stamp show finds should keep me sorting over the coming winter months!

 

Long & Noble Crusade 2.0

After albumizing two-plus rows of glassines full of 'Keep' stamps in my first Long & Noble Crusade beginning March of 2023, we're now in L&NC 2.0. After sorting the 'Save' stamps in June of this year, they formed only one row in 2.0. So that's progress. Wanting to winnow that row further, I'm doing a 'need and checked' review through all four Traveler albums of mine. Normally sorting by continent, I merged all the glassines into alphabetical order like the albums. Starting at 'A' this week (top photo).

With album open, I arrange the glassine contents (Checked for duplicates) looking for matches in the albums (if none, it's a Need). If it's a Need, or it's a better cancel or condition, I swap them on the spot. If too much movement on the album page will be required to add the new arrivals, or more pages need to be printed due to a significant addition to a country [are you listening, Korea?] they go back in the glassine for albumizing.

This one-row was tightly squeezed into the photo-box lid, with hinges in Tupperware. (On one particularly humid day, I had to separate ALL the hinges in the envelope and store them in a cool place for a couple of days. The 500 or so hinges in the envelope were well on their way to becoming one big hinge!) Tonight I got to Mozambique (alphabetically, not physically) and I've already filled half a baggie with doubles and the row is shrinking. So the process is working. It has my....stamp of approval!

Now, with the stamps winnowed, it's a question of albumizing them. With a known quantity for each country, I'm able to pre-select pages from two previous Travelers and the Ambassador stamp-show-find albums. I interleaved them where they will go in each of my four albums. Now, the albums look like they're .... bulging. And it's like somehow shoehorning a new chapter into an already-written book - it is a little unnatural to slot in another title page for Nicaragua, for instance, when there's already one there with flag and crest stickers. Undaunted, I still prefer the original album page format, even if I don't place each stamp in its matching black & white image on the page. 

So it's on to albumizing...Afghanistan, Aland (a new one for me!) and then it's on to Andorra and Angola. After I reach Zimbabwe, it will again be time to level the album's contents thereby distributing them equally among all (soon to be five) Traveler albums.

Still evading me is the will to albumize large, daunting country baggies like Bulgaria, China, Poland and Russia. I did interleave some Poland, Romania and Prussia, finding Bulgaria and China too daunting and early in the alphabet. I guess you could say I'm Stalin, er, stalling! Either way, I'm on my way to breaking out the fifth Traveler! The Crusade continues... 

Stamp Collecting Starter Packs - Version 3.0!

So far, I've placed nine Stamp Collecting Starter Packs since March, mostly in our nearest neighbourhood free sidewalk library. Based on an outreach idea from NTSC's Lisa Tam, I can't be sure if it's the same person taking them all, the library owner saying 'get that out of my library' and to me, it doesn't really matter. I'm just putting them out there, knowing that the person visiting that library is at least interested in free stuff!

All nine were similar, filled with a mix of 50 topical and Canadian stamps that I thought would interest beginners of any age - the first four packs with an orange backing card, the next five with blue, and now a third batch with green. That means animals, space, transport topicals and recognizable Canadian subjects like RCMP,  scenery,  Olympics and definitely no admirals, Queens or back-of-the-book. Like any good stamp dealer, I seed the front of each pack with large, brightly-coloured stamps.

This third version of the starter pack has My First Stamp Album included, and today I placed three, and will be placing the other three of these in various free libraries around our neighbourhood. After requesting the starter albums from CSDA back in June, I picked up a few more at the recent Kingston BNAPS show. 

Then I wondered, "How are the new collectors going to affix the stamps in the album?". In one of the text boxes that appear on many pages in the album, there is one about how to use stamp hinges. Of course, sponsored by CSDA, they would like you to visit one of their dealers to buy some! But we're not quite there yet as beginners, so I decided to attach a glassine of 50 stamp hinges on that page, to go with the 50 stamps in the pack. 

An advantage of including the album is that a longer, taller pack will make the packs more prominent among the paperbacks in the sidewalk libraries, and the green backer makes it more eye-catching. The stamps are still visible, as is the word 'Album'. Out they go!

Summer Stamping - with Updates!

Summer's here and the time is right for stamping in the streets. Originally published on June 4, let's catch up with updates added in August.

I submitted my membership request for this new online club. 

AUGUST UPDATE: The online Zoom and emails made this seem like just any other stamp club, albeit online. Left.

I emailed the Canadian Stamp Dealers' Association for a few copies of their My First Stamp Album. I plan to place these, along with stamps from my starter packs, in free sidewalk libraries in our neighbourhood. The albums do not include hinges or stamps, but I will be enclosing both in each of the five copies the CSDA kindly sent me. 

AUGUST UPDATE: These albums are going out, each to a different free sidewalk library in our neighbourhood!

The second issue of the American Philatelic Society's online magazine StampEd is available. AUGUST UPDATE: Well worth a read! Looking forward to more issues in future.

This Saturday: Kingston Stamp Club stamp show. I have some leftover birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I will be visiting the club consignment table and Roy Lingen's booth. 

AUGUST UPDATE: This show provided a summer's worth of fun sorting!

August 23-25: The BNAPS is holding their annual convention and bourse (we need a better word - how about marketplace or mall?) right here in Kingston. Free admission to some events! 

AUGUST UPDATE: I went to the show and it was well worth the visit!

The North Toronto Stamp Club hosts some excellent circuits, keeping postage costs for me low within Canada. I'm already part of the Worldwide and UK circuits, though I was finding my UK collection was decent enough to make a change. A quick email response from club president Klaus Hintz had me selecting some new circuits: Caribbean, US and Topical (aircraft). 

AUGUST UPDATE: The circuits are making their way to me - very good selection!

75 Bucks o' Fun! BNAPEX 2024

Feeling a bit like a trout among swordfish, I found myself at my old alma mater, the Kingston campus of St Lawrence College. Today it was serving as the venue for the three-day British North America Philatelic Society annual stamp show and convention. Perhaps trout is attaching too much importance to my philately - I'm more of a carp - a bottom-feeder. I'm never going to spend $2,500 on a 150 year-old piece of paper like a true BNAPSer - I like a bargain too much! And I know what I like - when I see it. 

But that didn't stop me from partaking in free parking and free attendance and with the venue so close to our home, of course I went to check out the exhibits and the bourse (top photo and below). Even though there were concurrent sessions, there were lots of vendors and buyers. I scanned the list of sessions, available to the public, but the topics were a little either before-my-time or over-my-head (large queens, small queens, and admirals, oh my!)

One of my first, and last, stops was as legendary dealer Roy Houtby's booth. Roy was busy and just moved out of the frame at left as I snapped the above photo. I found five boxes of collections/albums and Roy mentioned all were 50% off the sticker price. I was one happy carp! See my finds at the end of this post. I also enjoyed walking around checking out the various buyers' techniques - some were using their laptop-based want lists to find those elusive stamps they needed. Intense!

While ambling aimlessly about, I checked out the plethoric of fine frame exhibits at the far end of the Event Centre, just visible in the photo above. They were very specialized, and were a lot to absorb. Among the most interesting to me were various items of postal history associated with Royal Canadian Navy vessels of World War II, ranging from lowly motor torpedo boats to mighty aircraft carriers. Examples from Flower Class corvettes:

In the foyer outside the Event Centre were several excellent exhibits on Kingston-based philatelic history. Check them out in this post in my Kingston's Hanley Spur blog. My sixth Traveler album, packaged together with an Ambassador album, and between which the previous owner split pages from one album: A-M in the Ambassador and N-Z in the Traveler. Lots of blank pages available!

Envelope display stock pages and a packed stock book of older stamps - remember, both half-price!

Some of the upcoming event cards available at registration, as well as two specially-produced covers for BNAPEX with overprints and special cancellations on the Kingston-related cachets sold by the BNAPS. I had my choice of aircraft, going with the ugly but effective Avro Anson!

At the Trajan Media/Canadian Stamp News booth, I picked up a copy of the Unitrade Postage Stamp Identifier for that envelope full of 'Hard to ID' that I'll work on someday. My future success with albumizing hinges on ... more hinges. Thanks to Trajan for the 20% subscriber discount! I also found a few more copies of the CSDA's My First Stamp Album to include with future Stamp Collecting Starter Packs and two recent Canada Post FDC's:

This was my first attendance at a national-level exhibition, and it was impressive! St Lawrence College provided an excellent venue for BNAPEX, with rooms available at the nearby residence for a reasonable rate. Although I overheard one conversation about a 'swordfish spouse' relaxing back at the 'hotel', and another randomly saying you can't get decent pizza in Halifax! The Event Centre was brightly lit and high-ceilinged, one of several new additions to the campus. I found myself walking past some hallways that I recall leading to our classrooms and laboratories waaaay back in 1982-85 - our Medical Laboratory Technology student years. Further reinforcing the fact that bearing that span of time in mind, I may have been the youngest, and least grey-haired (!) attendee at the exhibition. And hair dye doesn't count!

Best Finds of the Stamp Show Finds

In an earlier post 'The Start of (Round 2 of) a Long and Noble Crusade', I shared my system for sorting my stamp show finds. I made a point of setting aside some of the best finds, and they're in this post!

Commonwealth (above) and miscellaneous worldwide (below).

Propaganda, Cinderellas and oddities (above and below).

Maisie Makes Germany Great - Again!

Fellow philatelist Maisie Van Doren and I have been exchanging since November, 2023. Maisie paints on a big canvas, twice sending me 1,000+ lots of Germany. This happened again on July 3, when the below package arrived in a vintage Simpson Lumber Co. envelope. In fact, Maisie sent the stamps in envelopes I had previously sent her, returning a previous large lot of Germany. Fun! And look at the scenic views applied as postage! Hot and cold beverage and cookie time!

The only way I can sort stamps is to stack by size/orientation. All phases of Germany are represented and I learned lots: Germania, Hindenburg, pre-war, German states, WWII, semi-postals, Official issues, post-war and our late dictator himself - he of the bunker, preserved for historical and completeness purposes only. Maisie hinted at the overprints and varieties contained herein, and she was right - so interesting!

Here's where they're headed - my Germany album:

The stacking process, with DDR (still not sorted!) in glassine envelopes:

I returned about two-thirds of all, and everything I kept (save DDR) has been albumized. My thanks to Maisie for adding so much to my Germany - again!

 

Who is....Alex?

Alex Trebek's long career getting the stamp of approval that is so richly-deserved!

 

The Start of (Round 2 of) a Long and Noble Crusade

I began my Long and Noble Crusade in March 2024. My goal was to albumize as many stamps, organized by continent and country, from my 'Keep' baggie as I could. After all, that baggie had been bulging and burgeoning for years, and procrastination was no longer something I could put off any longer.

I reached Germany by April, then Libya and Mongolia by about June. I took some sidetrips as engorged envelopes for several sizeable country collections arrived, like Finland, Germany, Norway and Switzerland, most earning their own albums.

Now it's fifteen months and four stamp shows later. That means the ever-popular 'Keep' baggie is expanding again. It's about time to embark on Round 2! Unlike last time, I plan to cherry-pick a 'best of' selection to share with the five or six of you who are actually reading this*. And there are some goodies, trust me!

As I sort the stamp-show material, largely (and very affordably) from Roy Lingen's table, as well as circuit and exchange keepers, I'm using a four-divider tray labelled with Post-its. This will easily help me direct the final disposition, as well as making sure I'm not mixing keepers with traders. 

This round, I have the advantage of several countries that have been albumized. This makes checking for doubles among newly-received stamps SOOOO much simpler. Also, if it's just a few stamps received, I can easily add them to pages I've already begun for each country [in Round 1]. Still escaping me is the will to albumize daunting, large countries like Bulgaria, China, Poland and Russia. I've already bit some big chunks off like India and Japan. I'll get there. I think.

* Of course this blog exists for my own documentary purposes as well, to track my progress, save some super stamp sites for future reference, and just to post pictures of stamps! But due to this blog's soft launch and low profile, I'm not kidding myself that Working Stamps is as fully seen as it is seen fully!

My Simple Second-Hand Stamp Secretary

In one corner of our family room sits a simple stamp secretary that I've found very useful for my stamp mail. Previously, I used a photo-box for this purpose, but it always looked like a photo box with a bunch of stuff stuffed into it. This simple stamp secretary actually looks like a piece of nice furniture. Google shows me this for secretaries of the non-human variety:

Someday, I'll have a Smithsonian-quality room called The Stamp Room. Lined with oaken shelves, it will contain all my albums, my rack of tongs, a soaking set-up, a roll-top desk, boxes full of stamps, an easy chair, brandy and snifter, smoking jacket, well you get the idea. Until then, this secretary can be placed on any table in the house and look useful as well as ornamental. How did I come by it? I normally self-ban from thrift stores. But one day, in a weak moment, I found myself inside our local Value Village and this little wooden number called my name. Seven bucks later, I had it home and safely stowed on a shelf. Like dollar stores, thrift stores show us things we didn't know we needed to buy! 

Then, one bright and shining day I had an epiphany that this second-hand secretary just might be useful for the sending of stamp mail. That's likely what it was intended to hold - paper items. So I got it down from the shelf it was stowed on to actually use it! Let's look inside:

Back-to-front and left-to-right, I have current postal rates (always too high!), my book of exchange partners, notepads, postcards and envelopes, pens, address labels, mint stamps, and in the drawer, Canadian stamps for exchange, stamps I need, and stamps to soak (before they go in the stamps-to-soak boxes!).

Then, when the mail is ready to go, close up the doors until next time!

To Soak or Not To Soak....

Today's mail brought a nice mailing from TradeOnlyStamps exchange partner Michael Ravis of West Virginia. Michael's note said, "Enclosed are Forever-rate stamps that can not be soaked with water - so that is why they have the backing of the envelope. I saw that there is a way to remove the backing but seems like too much time, compared to the old-fashion way with just water." 

The self-adhesive stamp wave has caused ripples through my soaking process. There's nothing worse than immersing a handful or two of on-paper stamps only to realize that the self-adhesive ones are NEVER going to come off the backing paper. And now you have a bunch of wrinkly-paper stamps on your hands! Or worse, ripping the layers of the wet stamp apart creating misery.

To try to paper over this problem, I created my own DNS list - Do Not Soak. I haven't found an official list  anywhere, and this list has worked so far. It's on a post-it note, stuck inside the lid of my tea-box of world stamps to soak. So far, Canada's self-adhesive issues have not been an issue.

I know there are chemical solutions for sale that break the adhesive-to-paper barrier, but they cost money, unlike scissors.

So, knowing a stamp is self-adhesive, either by my list or the appearance of its perforations, I happily close-crop around them, keeping paper and all together. I still use stamp hinges, but I suppose tape or some other paper-to-paper glue or adhesive would work equally well in my album.

Two quadrilled pages of recent self-adhesive U.S. stamps-on-paper, mounted by year of issue, from my U.S. album. Looks like I already have one or two - no problem, duplicates will go on to another collector in my small network!

My U.S. album's homemade cover (above). I recognized Gerald Ford's likeness by Michael Deas. I featured Michael's creations in this previous post.